If the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) was established to safeguard the nation's environment,
then why does it require people to purchase gasoline that pollutes
the water and makes them sick?

That, after all, is the result
of the EPA's controversial policy of requiring certain regions
of the nation to sell gasoline that contains methyl tertiary-butyl
ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive that was supposed to help the
environment.

Pursuant to the 1990 Clean
Air Act amendments, the EPA required that areas of the nation
with the worst ozone smog problems use "environmentally-friendly"
reformulated gasoline (RFG) to help achieve the agency's clean
air goals. MTBE is the gasoline oxygen additive that the petroleum
industry most commonly used to satisfy the EPA's mandate of reducing
smog-producing tailpipe emissions.1 By 1999, it was used in 30%
of the nation's gasoline supply. As many as 16 states, including
California, sold MTBE gasoline.2

However, this seemingly laudable
activity has proven to be a costly public health debacle. The
EPA ordered the costly MTBE requirement despite scientific research
indicating that RFG would not reduce air pollution. A 1999 National
Research Council study - requested and funded by the EPA - found
that while RFG and MTBE "do reduce some pollutants from
motor vehicle emissions, the oxygenates appear to have little
impact on lowering ozone levels."3 Incredibly, the EPA ignored
this study and implemented regulations in 2000 to increase the
use of RFG. Further, the need for oxygenated fuels may be unfounded,
inasmuch as 75-85% of smog in major cities is from non-automobile
sources4 and tailpipe emissions of new cars are 95% lower than
they were in the 1960s.5

But MTBE's ineffectiveness
as an anti-pollutant was only the tip of the EPA's regulatory
miscarriage. MTBE poses significant health risks. The liquid
is highly soluble in water and has been detected in approximately
20% of the ground water where RFG is sold, while there is only
a 2% detection rate in non-RFG areas.6 A University of California
study found that MTBE has affected at least 10,000 groundwater
sites throughout that state.7 Besides presenting a turpentine
like taste and odor to water, the additive is believed to be
a human carcinogen and has caused maternal and fetal defects
in lab animals. It also causes headaches, nausea, vomiting, disorientation
and eye irritation upon exposure. The use of MTBE in RFG has
also been shown to increase formaldehyde tailpipe emissions (a
human carcinogen) by 13%.8

Confronted with these disturbing
findings, the EPA finally admitted that the MTBE mandate was
a major mistake. In March 2000, EPA administrator Carol Browner,
once an ardent MTBE proponent, announced that the agency would
phase out the MTBE mandate. This comes only eight years after
use of the oxygenate was first encouraged by the EPA as a safe
and effective way to reduce ozone depleting tailpipe emissions.9

In addition to doing little
for the environment and posing serious health risks, MTBE has
a harmful effect on wallets. With gas prices averaging $1.71
per gallon nationwide in June, many Americans can ill-afford
to pay an additional 10 cents per gallon for gasoline containing
MTBE.10 These costs are magnified by the fact that gasoline oxygenated
with MTBE results in an average 2-3% loss of fuel efficiency.11

Elevated gas prices have hit
low income and minority populations the hardest. Frustrated with
the EPA's initial refusal to address its flawed RFG policy, House
Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) observed in June that "working
families are bearing the brunt of EPA's inaction."12 In
1998, a year marked by the second lowest gas prices on record,
African-American households spent an average of $1,121 on gasoline,
natural gas and other fuels while spending just $1,069 on health
care. Similarly, the poorest 20% of the population spent 4.43%
of their total expenditures on gasoline, natural gas and other
fuels while the richest 20% spent just 3% of total expenditures
on fuels but purchased almost twice as much gasoline as the poorest
20%.13

The costs for cleaning up MTBE
pollution are ultimately borne by the consumer. Annual MTBE treatment
costs range up to an average of $391 per family of four, which
includes a federal gasoline surtax that funds state clean-up
programs.14 This is an onerous expenditure indeed for the typical
household in the lowest 20% of the income bracket with an average
after-tax income of just $7,049.15

EPA's MTBE debacle poignantly
illustrates the price we all pay when sound science is ignored.
Had EPA shown more patience and listened to its own experts,
this costly pollution of the nation's water supply need not have
occurred. But the agency didn't listen and now Americans, especially
minorities and the poor, are paying the price for the EPA's mistake.